


Beyond All The Sighs

by dixiehellcat



Series: Pepperony Bingo 2020 [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Polyamory, SO MUCH pining for such a short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:15:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25691905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dixiehellcat/pseuds/dixiehellcat
Summary: Three people pining. Two are too noble to interfere with what they think the other ones could have.One's just clueless (that's the genius). Somebody please use your words!For Pepperony Bingo fill 'love confessions' and Tony Stark Flash Bingo, card 020, adopted fill 'polyamory'!
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Pepperony Bingo 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765135
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67
Collections: Pepperony Bingo 2020, Tony Stark Flash Bingo





	Beyond All The Sighs

Rhodey felt like half of his heart had been ripped out and trampled in the dust of Afghanistan. The other half pounded like it had no sense at all, as he sat beside Pepper after he returned to California without her boss, his friend. He wanted to comfort her, to dry the tears he saw her fighting not to shed, to drive the fear for Tony from her beautiful eyes. “I’ll find him, Pep. As God is my witness, I will.” 

He did not say _he told me one drunk night last year, he thinks he’s in love with you_. What good would that have done? None, other than to hurt her worse, and hurting her was the last thing on earth he wanted to do. She was an incredible woman, working for Tony for eight years, putting up with his shit. Tony needed somebody like her, so badly. Sure, he knew Tony had dated guys. Sure, he and Tony had played around, like guys do, but it had never been serious on Tony’s part, so he had never said anything, though he loved Tony to his depths. Pepper was amazing, and if he was honest with himself, in another place and time, Rhodey would have gone after her. She sniffled and wrung the shreds of Kleenex in her hands, and he tried not to look at how gorgeous she was, tried not to think about how it would feel to hold her and kiss her pain away. If she was the one Tony wanted, he would move continents to find his pal, do whatever he could to bring them back together, and he would be happy for them. He would.

+++ 

Pepper watched as Tony’s birthday party fell apart, and she felt like she might too, watching as he fell down the hole she thought sure he had pulled himself out of. It was an almost physical pain to see him drunk and out of control.

Then Jim showed up, his eyes went hard, and he went after Tony. That hurt even more, because she knew Tony telling her he loved her just a minute before was the liquor talking. She’d seen him and Jim, though. She knew they went back decades, she knew all of Tony’s pet names for him: _Rhodey, platypus, honeybear, sourpatch_. It was so obvious Tony loved the man, and Jim loved him—he’d risked his military career to rescue Tony, and bring him home, and had stood by him through scrapes she knew only as stories they laughed together about. Now, she had been forced to put them in a position where they had to fight each other. She didn’t just hurt for Tony though; Jim was so strong, and solid, and a part of her that she had long denied had been drawn to him, to his steadfast warmth, his dependable courage. 

Pepper pushed all that away, and down. She turned away from the spectacle, to get back to work. 

+++ 

On the street below, occasional explosions marked the ignominious end of the Stark Expo. Tony swooped down to land on a tall building’s rooftop, far enough away to be safe, close enough to keep an eye on everything. He put Pepper down, so thankful she was okay; he dragged Iron Man’s helmet off and tossed it aside, and let her rave at him. For once he wasn’t even upset, just thankful she was alive to yell. She was going to quit SI—it hadn’t been that long since he’d put her in charge, but she ranted about how it was like dog years, and he couldn’t very well argue with her on that.

She seemed surprised he took it so well. Damn, she was beautiful, even sweaty and windblown and messed up, and he wanted to kiss her brave angry face. Just as he was thinking about plucking up the nerve to move in, repulsors interrupted, and Rhodey landed nearby. Tony’s last bit of worry eased, knowing his sugarbear was unhurt too. Pepper looked around, her tirade hit the pause button, and she hurried over with concern written all over her. Tony watched her small hands pat over the scuffed grey armor, the careful way Rhodey laid one armored gauntlet on her shoulder in reassurance, and suddenly it clicked. He straightened, aching, and took a deep breath. “Okay!” he said with all the cheer he could summon, and clapped his dusty hands with a clank. “It’s like that, huh? Good enough. So, I’ll leave you two to it then.” 

The looks they turned on him were gut-wrenchingly identical, and confused as fuck. “Say what?” Rhodey demanded.

Pepper cocked her head slightly and frowned. “Tony, what are you talking about?”

“It’s fine. I get it. I see it now. I played the role of pushing the people I loved away before I died, way too well. I pushed you away, and together.” He tried to shrug sore shoulders inside his armor. “Serves me right, you two make sense together. You’re both so competent and smart and good.” He needed to move along, but he just couldn’t seem to stop talking. “Fuck it, I love you both, but I can handle this, all right? I can be the friend you both deserve, and at least keep you in my life. People’ve always called me selfish, might as well admit they’re right on this one, I am…”

“But I love you,” they both said, almost in unison, then jumped and looked at each other as though startled, and weirdly guilty. “I love you,” they said again, but this time looking at each other.

Tony squinted. For a genius, his brain was moving awfully slow. Maybe it was the residual effects of the palladium, or maybe he was just an idiot. “Um, who’re you talking to?” He aimed the question at Pepper; he wasn’t sure he could juggle both these conversations at once, not right now with shit still blowing up off in the distance that was probably directly or indirectly his fault. 

She looked at him, and then at Rhodey, but the look wasn’t like she was trying to decide what to say or who to say it to. “Both,” she said suddenly. “You keep calling yourself selfish, Tony. You aren’t, but I’m going to be. I love you both.”

It would have been amusing to watch Rhodey’s jaw drop when Pepper touched his cheek, if Tony hadn’t been held captive by the dark eyes he had loved since he was a juvenile delinquent prodigy trying to learn how to be a friend and wishing to be something else. “Tones, you gotta know I’ve loved you since MIT. And Pep…yeah, I’m kinda crazy for you too.”

Tony was honestly afraid to move, for fear he might tip over the side of the building and not be able to get his brain back online in time to fly, he was that caught up in disbelief. _This cannot be fucking happening_ , he thought in a daze; but Pepper took Rhodey’s hand, and he clunked across the rooftop beside her. She reached up and kissed Tony, as sweet and spicy as he had dreamed for a couple thousand nights, with her fingers tangling in his hair. “You look like two seals fighting over a grape,” Rhodey snarked, but his wide grin and hungry gaze said something different.

“I wouldn’t exactly call you an objective observer,” Pepper retorted when her lips left Tony’s. “A second opinion is usually better for strategic planning. Tony, what do you think?”

“Hey, I’m not exactly Switzerland here,” Tony started to complain, but his mouth went dry when he watched them kiss. It was like the best porn ever—no, fuck no, it was better, light-years better. 

Pep backed off Rhodey’s mouth, wet and well-kissed. “Well?” she inquired, her voice as steady as if they were in the office talking about ordering staplers and printer paper. 

Tony gulped. “I’d tell you, but you’d kill me. It’s not bad, what I would say, but you would kill me. Granted, I’d die happy and willingly but—”

“NO,” Rhodey snapped and stepped to him nose to nose. ”We are not talkin’ about dying now.” One metal-clad hand shot out, grabbed the back of Tony’s neck and reeled him in for a kiss, hard enough his head spun and his fingers scrabbled at the other man’s shoulders for support.

“No,” Pep echoed where she stood watching with her cheeks flushed. “Definitely not talking about dying. Not now, and not anytime soon.”

Something strict in her tone (that made Tony’s knees a bit more weak, to be frank) made Rhodey pull away and swivel to look at her with an eyebrow hiked. “Is this something I need to hear about?”

Tony tensed. Pep saw it, he knew, and shook her head. “Later,” she said, and kissed Rhodey. “Later,” she said again, and kissed Tony. Later. They had later, now. Tony had later, with them both, and was overwhelmed by the thought. 


End file.
